Draft-gear for locomotives and railroad-oars.



No. 820,375 PATEN'TED MAY 8, 1906- G. T. WSSTLAKE & A. R. THOMAS.

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FiWISlLi-HUC, HF RT. llOl lij MISSfi'lURL AND ALBERT R, lliliiilifllri iijiiidllirNOlif-l T0 DAVIF FUR zifllfihi G i DELA N A Eli.

Spoeifioatioii of Letters Patent.

Patentad May 8, 3906.

fl ods-title filsd Marsh 8, 1.9118. Serial 230i Haj-$951,

LAKE, zio 1mg it 5t. vLydia, in the State of Missour ind Ami RT it. 'liiouis, residing Ill Granite my in l-l'i enmity of illadison our] State of lIllinoigoitizom-s or the United States have invented a; new and useful Improve-- merit in Dru ftfioar'for Locomotives and Railroad-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention rolotos to the draf goar of a looomotivo and railroad-car.

In the ordinary draft -gear of a railroad-oar on moving the coupler with its shank and Yoko to either side of the longitudinal center line of the 23.1 the springs are oompressod on that side and expand on the other side, whereby when the pressure is removed the tendency of the. springs is to return the oouplor and yoke to their normal centrai position. On the other hand, in. the case of a lo ol'amotive or tender the coupler is usually formed or provided with a short shank oiv oted to or within :1 pocket in tho ilot or hul fer-homo, as the oose may be, wit root the use of a yoke with the springs and followcr-plates, as in the ordinary car, so that when engaged in switching on movin the coupler ahout its pivot for coupling it a. car on a curve the coupler remains stationary in its adjusted po sition on removal of the pressure, whereas if fitted with ordinary oar draft- ;ea-r it would he neoessary to also considerable force to more tho coupler to one side of its (control position and to hold it in the fldjufll-l-i'd position until the coupling was made.

Our invention has for its object to enable the con ler and yoke of the ordinarv draftgear on eing moved to either side of its 1011 gitudiniil center line to remain statioilary in whatever position it may be placed without being affected by the springs, as before mentioned, and also to obtain a long radius for the oouplerl when applied to a locomotive or tender, so that on its beiri moved to either side of the center the angle otween the allirig face of the coupler and the longito. inal oenter zine of the tender remains a'poroxi mately nornml, whereas with the on imam short-shrink coupler sullioiout lateral moroment oohnot bo obtained without proved draft-gear sip 1, showing the bufferthio :mglo to such it dogrer =14 To main: the ooupiing with the our inoperative.

Tho invention consists in Features of now oity, horoh: ftor desorihod and claimed, reference being; had to tho snoompanying drawings,forming part oi this: s iooification, whoroon-- Figure 1 is a top hm. View of our imhed to the boiler-beam of a looomotivwton er; Fig" .2, a cross-soction through the draftour on line 2 2 in Fig. earn in fronts/lava tion Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal section throiigh the draft-gear on line 3 3 in Fig; 1, broken away land. omitting the draw-bar pooiaot; Fig/4,. ahbrizontal section thereof on line 4 4 1n 3, lTJZOkiE-R away ting the springsl; and Fig. 5, a vertical transverse sostion through the yoko of the draft gear a rid the attaphment thereto forrning Firt of our inv ention on line 5 5 in Flg. 3

ooking to the left alnd showing the back follower-plate in rear elevation.

Like letters and nur'nera-lsof reference denote like parts in 113i the figures.

(1 represents ;1 locomotive-tender bufferoeam, which is refera'bly metaillio and fixed to the ends of t e middle and outer longitudinal frame-booms, b and 0, respectively, {broken away) of the, tender in the ,usual manner. Across the middle portion of the bufler-hoam a in its under side is a. recess 1, the sides of which taper toward each other from tho front of the beam 0 at an inclination correogzondhr to the maximum radial play of the coup ershank or draw-oar of the dra tvgear from its beam o, as hereinafter more particularly re ferred to. From the rear side of the bufferbeuin a between the middle longitudinal frame-beams b rojects a draw-bar pocket d, Whioh is profera 1y integral with the beam a, as shown, (but may be separately constructed and attaohed to the beam 0, 111 any suitablemanner) and latorally secured to the longitudinal beams b by ri ets (or bolts) 2. The pocket (I may be of an? suitable construction adapted to rooieive the springs 3 the from and back follower-plates =1 and 5, and tho yoke 6 of the draft-gear, thevoke 6 being attached to the shank or draw-hair 7 of the and omiti pivotal point behind the coupler e and the whole arranged and operating, except as modified by our improvement, in the usual well-known manner.

Ordinarily the center of vibration of the coupler corresponds practically to the upright center line of the inner or hearing face of the yoke against the outer side of the back follower plate, and when the coupler, with its draw-bar and yoke, is moved to either side of the 1011 itudinal center line of the car which passes through. the said pivotal center of the draftear the springs arccornpressed on that side and expand on the other side, which, owing to the subsequent recoil of the springs, returns the coupler when released to its nor- Inal osition. To obviate this effect, especia ly in the case of applying the ordinary draft-gear to a locomotive or tender, we in ter ose between the rear side of the back fol oWer-plate 5 and the corresponding ordinary bcaring-face 6 of the yoke 6 a block 8, havin its outer upright face 8 for the entire dept of the back fiilloweeplate 5 curved radially from the pivotal center as of the yoke 6, which in this case is the upright center line of the face 6; but the pivotal center a: of the yoke 6 may be otherwise located at any suitable. distance to the rear of the yoke 6 for reducing the an is of the con ler a when moved laterally rom its norma central 0 sition, the outer face 8 of the block 8 being j in such case curved radially thereto. The curved face 8 en ages in a correspondinglyshaped recesss 8 in the rear side of the back follower-plate 5, the block attached to the face 6 of the yoke 6 by one or more rivets 9, as shown, or in any other! 8 being preferably suitable manner, or the block 8 as 21 separate )iece may be dispensedwith and t e curved face 8 formed on a correspondin rejection (the equivalent of the block 8 rom the face 6 and integral with the oke 6. Similarly, the front side of the front fo lowerplate 4 is termed with a projection 10, having its outer upright face 10 curved radially from the pivotal center st (or from whatever point this center may be located to the rear 1 of the yoke 6) and engaged by the square (or correspondingly concave) inner end of the shank or draw-bar 7 of the coupler e. By this construction when the coupler e, with its shank 7 and yoke 6, is moved to either side of the longitudinal center line of the tender (or car) the convex surface 8 of the yoke-block 8 will partially rotate within the recess 8 of the back follower-plate 5 and the inner end of the coupler-shank or draw-bar 7 partially around the convex rojection 10 of the front follower-plate 4, re ially, respectively, to the pivotal center at, wherebytthe follower-plates 4 and 5 and the intermediate spn'n s 3 will remain normal and unaffected at a] times, thus eliminating the recoil of the coupler e, which will. consequently remain stationary in any adjusted position about its pivotal center .r.

This invention is of great advantage when switching for readily and quickly coupling the tender and cars together on a curve without danger to the operator.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

ln draft-gear of the character described, the combination with the yoke and the shank of the coupler, of a front followenplate, a back followerlate, a spring between the said plates, a block interposed between the rear side of the back follower-plate and the correspondinginncr face of the yoke, and a rejection on the front side of the front to]- ower-plate, the said block and projection havin their outer u right faces respectively curve radially to the pivotal center of the yoke, and adapted respectively to en age in a corresponding recess in the back ollowerplate, and with the inner 'end of. the said shank, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribin Witnesses C IA'RLES T. WESTLAKE. ALBERT R. THOMAS. Witnesses:

E. C. TOUHEY, EDWARD W. FURRELL. 

